Interview:

Music has always been related to the Spirit in one form or another, throughout the many stages of our human evolution, as of course it always will, even through this materialistic age, but what of music’s significance? The first instrument was the voice; could it be that the first song was the woeful lament at the loss of a loved one or the exhilarated cries in unison when the hunt was a success and survival guaranteed, for the moment at least? The similarities in sound and in feeling between singing and charged emotional states is undeniable; feelings although born from mind, being of the soul’s domain, and the soul in turn being akin to spirit as if through an invisible umbilical cord which connects us to the Creator. To ask what is the spiritual significance of music, one must first decide what of the relationship between the soul and spirit, for the second question provides the key to the first. According to the following descriptions taken from a dictionary, one can assume that the word “Spirit” can take any of the four following meanings:
A). God
B). One’s soul
C). A sentient being without a physical body
D). One’s mood

A). “God”: It is explained in many religious circles that music is the language, which God has given us to describe the indescribable. Even opposing religions agree on this statement.
B). “One’s soul”: Even the greatest of non-believers when it comes to religion, will agree, after assisting an inspired performance, that the artist was imbued with soul, or that the performance was soulful, proving that even without “officially” recognizing their belief in the transcendent, heart-felt music is indeed related to the soul.
C). “A sentient being without a physical body”: Most shamans use the aid of singing, and a drum or rattle of some sort, to achieve the necessary state of mind in which communication with the ancestors, elemental, and disincarnate beings is made possible.
D). “One’s mood”: Science has proved that matter is in fact vibrating atoms and space. So everything that is, vibrates, and everything that vibrates, produces sound. This is the theory behind the ancient belief in the music of the spheres; that the vibration of the celestial bodies, or planets, and their correlations determine the music scales to which we still compose today.

In the East, there is a whole school of thought that states that within the body there are various vortexes of energy called “chakras”, and that their balance, or correct vibration, is paramount to the health and well being of the body. This vibration can be influenced and even altered by means of sound and frequency, and here each vortex has a musical note and color to which is vibrates. In addition, each chakra has certain psychological states, or frames of mind, which are inherent to it, including the underlying moods that come with each state of mind. Simply put, it is undeniable that certain sounds, like chaotic noise can irritate profoundly, while others like the sound of waves on the seashore can soothe, thus affecting our mood.

In my humble opinion, all sound is music; it’s effect depending on the context. Everything vibrates, and so everything makes sound. The Creator made everything, be it through a Big Bang or an all-pervading hum that still vibrates in all things, eternally linking us to it from the very core of our beings. Thus the significance of music is the spirit.
Spir·it /_sp_r_t/
1). The Spirit, God.
2). The principle of conscious life; the vital principle in humans, animating the body or mediating between body and soul.
3). The incorporeal part of humans: present in spirit though absent in body.
4). The soul or heart as the seat of feelings or sentiments, or as prompting to action: a man of broken spirit.
5). Spirits, feelings or mood with regard to exaltation or depression: low spirits; good spirits.
6). Excellent disposition or attitude in terms of vigor, courage, firmness of intent, etc.; mettle: That’s the spirit!

“The Creator made everything, be it through a Big Bang or an all-pervading hum that still vibrates in all things, eternally linking us to it from the very core of our beings.”
– Guillermo de Llera, percussionist and vocalist in Primitive Reason